Jimmie Bratcher

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For his last record, Secretly Famous and this one, Bratcher returned to secular lyrics and was delighted to discover that church audience to respond to the blues.

“People in church often say, ‘I didn’t think I liked the blues, but I like this’,” he says. “I have been taking the blues to its most vocal critics and have had nothing but success.”

This is Blues Country brings Bratcher back to his roots as a young guitarist who owned both Jimi Hendrix’ Axis Bold As Love and Johnny Cash’s At Folsom Prison. Recording blues-based versions of classic country songs make perfect sense as, in addition to both being connected to the church, blues and country retain a strong connection to each other.

“If you listen to the original versions of some of the songs I chose, like ‘Honky Tonk Blues’ and ‘Don’t Worry About Me,’ they are basically blues structures,” Bratcher explains. “I wanted to pick songs that were suitable to a blues format, and then stay as close as possible to the original vocal melody.”

Speaking of vocal melodies, this might be a good time to mention that in addition to his guitar mastery Bratcher brings a soulful singing voice to this collection of reimagined standards.